This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

The Toronto Maple Leafs appear to be focused in part on building a solid future with Nazem Kadri despite dire straits with the current roster and howls for a tear down.

In the midst of a 4-3 loss to Ottawa Wednesday, one that extended the Leafs’ losing streak to six games, Kadri was reported to be in talks for a new contract that would lock him up for the next five years.

As first reported by Sportsnet, Kadri and his camp are looking at an offer believed to be for $22.5 million over that five-year term. Kadri acknowledged the “contract” after the loss, but was in team-first mode, saying “If it happens, that’s between my agents and the team . . . I’m focused on our team and what I have to do to help us win games.”

Whether the Leafs tear down their roster or simply retool it, the Kadri talks show management is confident in moving into the immediate future with Kadri a part of the all-important mix of centres — and possibly the team’s No. 1 centre for next season.

Kadri, who was Toronto’s first-round pick, seventh overall in 2009, is the de facto No. 1 centre at the moment. With the club slipping way out of the playoff picture, Kadri has become the pivot with winger Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk. That unit is essentially the team’s top scoring forward line, with Kadri in the middle slot that Tyler Bozak has held for much of the last two seasons.

Article Continued Below

Toronto’s next moves are a hot-button issue, and depending on how the rebuild-retool goes, Kadri could end up as the lead centre in the top six group for next season.

It appears the Leafs’ most pressing need is on defence; Kadri and the current forward group have shown they can score — they led the NHL barely three weeks ago with a 3.34 goals per game average — but the defence remains overwhelmed.

And teams like the New York Rangers and the St. Louis Blues — who may, arguably, have the best blue-lines in hockey — built their defence corps through solid trades and signings in addition to the draft.

The Leafs’ new investment in an analytics department will now come into central focus, with its ability to predict player and team futures through probabilities being put to use to help map out where the organization may go player wise.

With Kadri, there is a cemented degree of certainty: he has passed through trials and tribulations with the Marlies and three coaches at the NHL level; he’s had breakout seasons on offence and been grilled in the art of two-way hockey. Essentially, he’s being seen as holding the potential for 20-25 goals per season with solid possession analytics (he is a better five-on-five player than Bozak).

Toronto coach Peter Horachek returned him periodically to the point on the club’s power play, especially in Ottawa and over the past few weeks, when the club was desperate to break out of a goal drought that saw them manage just two in 16 periods.

Kadri’s numbers this season continue to blossom despite the team’s recent regression. The 24-year-old has scored 18 and 20 goals over the past two seasons, and is on pace to surpass those figures with 13 goals through the first 46 games this season.

The Leafs, while they have seemingly endless issues to solve, are wasting no time in laying the foundation for the future, and it’s a trend seen every season with other clubs around the NHL. In fact, Kadri’s contract — and where it may end up in terms of value and term — certainly compares to other players of his age who are similarly becoming building blocks to the future of their teams.

Columbus, for instance, has locked up several players long term over the past several months, including goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and breakout forward Nick Foligno. Foligno, 27, who, halfway through this season, is already on the verge of career-best numbers, signed a six-year, $33 million deal around the turn of the year.

Florida’s Nick Bjugstad, 22, also signed a new deal around the new year, one worth about $25 million over six years.

The NHL has seen that age group — from 22 to 25 — come out of entry level contracts or bridge contracts, and sign their first long-term deals for somewhere in the $20- to $30-million range.

In Montreal, the two-year, bridge contract concept was used with Carey Price and PK Subban, and both players were nicely rewarded at the end of those deals with six- and eight-year contracts worth $39 million and $72 million, respectively.

Kadri is similarly coming to the end of a two-year contract and his reward is apparent, but it also asks him to forgo the first two years of his free agency, where he could earn more.

Those details are apparently being worked out between the two camps, but Kadri is sure to enter his prime earning years with a longer-term deal from the Leafs, and still come out at or under 30 years of age with the potential for another big payday.

Right now, that’s territory for his agent and the Leafs.

Kadri knows his contract will happen, so like all athletes, his comments for public consumption are focused on the team.

“We have to play better, we have a good team here and we can’t let (the losses) tear us apart,” Kadri said after the Ottawa game, where he scored his 13th goal of the season.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com